Asus PadFone 2, Compelling Reasons to Buy this Christmas

Published price tag of the 'full' Asus PadFone 2 starts at over $1000 in Australia. Seems pricey on first look but the package actually delivers two devices - the standalone smartphone which then becomes a tablet when docked with a companion shell.

Is it a worthy buy this Christmas? It you want to trim down the gadgets that you actually use, the PadFone 2 is definitely a must-have gizmo for the holidays and beyond.

Out of the box, this Asus hybrid is powered by Ice Cream Sandwich but is readily upgradable to JellyBean, which should smoothly run on the device's 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with Adreno 320 graphics processor and 2GB of RAM, making it a mighty brick that is blessed with HD 1280 x 720 Super IPS+ display attributes.

All these specs are replicated when users would want to make a tablet out of the PadFone 2, with added benefits of longer battery life because the dock-tablet companion also acts as charger for the smartphone while the units are working together.

This engineering ingenuity alone, courtesy of Asus, redounds to savings both of trouble, money and time as users can do away with all the synching normally associated with maintaining separate phone and tablet. Plus you have the benefit of owning two separate high-end gadgets that when purchased individually requires more cash.

With the PadFone 2, camera bliss is wholly covered as the smartphone is equipped with a rear-shooter of 13MP and five-element lens, arguably the best of its class, according to early reviews.

And Asus did not scrimp on giving you the best commercially available Full HD recording experience as this new PadFone captures on 1080p at 30fps. Out in the streets, you are brandishing a gadget-looker that you can also point and shoot when the need arises.

Most importantly, productivity was not overlooked when Asus enginners thought of the PadFone 2. When a task begs for completion ASAP, simply dock the smartphone, pair the tablet with a Bluetooth keyboard and then pull up the pre-installed Polaris Office Suite. You just assembled a workstation in haste and you can start firing away looking on its 10.1-inch screen.

When you need to be guided on certain locations while driving, the PadFone 2 is your best bet as GPS, delivering real-time and turn-by-turn navigation feeds on a generous 10-inch window.

And the deal got a bit sexier recently as Asus decided that white is chic, thus the addition of the majestic-looking hybrid handset. With two colours on the PadFone 2 menu, it is much easier to pick out this tech toy among the gadget jostling to get your attention come the harried holiday shopping season.